Wow. “Summertime done come and gone…my oh my!” 😉
What a summer it has been. We are still riding the emotional high from The Contenders’ Summer tour of Netherlands and Germany. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude to everyone who helped organize the shows and makes them such an incredible success. Our first show of the tour felt like a ‘home run’ and we even said to each other on the drive after that gig, ‘Man…it’s probably going to be all down hill from here’. But somehow, it never went down hill. Each and every night was completely perfect in it’s own way. We are just so grateful to everyone who came out, spread the word, sang along and made us feel so at home, so very far away from our homes. Thank you!
Now that we’re back, I have a few cool items to share…

1. New LIVE Contenders video!
Here’s another cut from our live session back in January at Southern Ground Studio in Nashville. This song is one of our favorites to play live. ‘Back in Time’ is a lament to simpler times when we weren’t all so distracted by the tiny screens in front of us and life seemed to move a little slower. We hope that you will turn it up LOUD and share this video with your friends!

2. JN – Solo acoustic show in New York City at Rockwood 3
– Saturday, October 1st.
Rockwood Stage 3 has become my favorite venue in the Big Apple. Grab your tickets now, while the getting is good. These shows tend to sell out and tickets are moving quickly already. Expect to hear some new songs, a few old ones and a Contenders tune or two as well.

3. I’m playing a show…ON A BOAT!
One of the biggest perks of my job, is that sometimes I get to do my job in crazy cool locations. This one may take the cake… On Sunday, October 2nd, I’m playing a very special concert and Q&A on the 74 ft Schooner Woodwind. The ticket price includes a gourmet four course brunch paired with custom craft cocktails, a sailing trip around the Chesapeake and a signed poster for the event. Less than half of the available tickets remain, so act now and join us for a truly unforgettable experience.10.2.2016 – Annapolis, MD – Schooner Woodwind – TICKETS

4. The Contenders return to Vermont, Americana Fest, Carolina in the Fall.

I’m very pleased to announce that we will be bringing our finely tuned Contenders experience home to the Upper Valley of Vermont. On Saturday, September 17th, we will be playing a concert to benefit Pentangle Arts Council at Suicide Six Ski Area. This will be a family friendly event with activities and games for kids of all ages, beer & wine served in the S6 Lodge along with an opening performance by local favorite Leyeux (Jack Snyder).

From there, we will be heading south to take part in the festivities for the Americana Music Association’s Americana Fest. If you’re in Nashville, we would love for you to join us Friday night at 10pm at the Family Wash for our showcase. The $60 festival wristband gains you access to 5 nights of music from a huge and impressive roster including the likes of John Prine, Bob Weir, Steve Earle & Shawn Colvin, Martin Sexton, of course, The Contenders and many many more.

*NOTE – we will also be performing a very special, pre-show event called ‘Song to Table’, where we join twenty guests for a chef prepared meal of some of our favorite foods. I played one of these a year ago and it was an incredible experience!

I wish that I could report that Spring has sprung up here in the North. This morning, I woke to find 4 inches of fresh snow, a balmy ambient temperature of 55 degrees fahrenheit in my bathroom and a frigid 5 degrees above zero, outside.

Weird weather. Oh well.

Springtime is the right time for making the rounds and making music and we have much to be excite about in the coming weeks. You’ll probably look at schedule below and conclude that I’ve developed a serious attention deficit disorder.

I will be dancing all over the map with a variety of different projects over the next couple months.Truth be told, it’s just the way the cookie crumbled and it’s just the way I like it. Variety is the spice of life and I couldn’t be more excited to have all of these different outlets to play music with my friends stacked up as they are.

I’m happy to report from the studio that we have a beautiful, new full length album from the Contenders just about ready to go. We’re just waiting for the right time and place to set it free unto the world. After the dust settles from this springtime of running around, I’ll be heading back into my creative bunker in Vermont to write and record new solo material.

Expect a bigger tour schedule for the late summer and fall.In the meantime, looking forward to seeing you in Vermont, Seattle, North Carolina, Los Angeles, Atlantic City and Chicago! Thanks for listening!

Just in case you haven’t been following the storyline at home, these online broadcasts are the best thing to happen to music since electricity. This coming Monday, I’ll play the ‘over you’ EP along with ‘all the stars in copenhagen’…in their entirety. The broadcast is FREE for all to enjoy and is an amazing to connect directly with me and with other friends and fans all over the globe.

Josh Day & I are just absolutely over the moon to be a part of an incredible festival lineup that includes Jason Isbell, John Prine, Dave Rawlings, Old Crow Medicine Show, Brandi Carllile and The Wood Brothers…just to name a few.

We are playing a set on Saturday April 30th and a second on Sunday, May 1st.

The rumors are true. It’s all true. Tony Lucca, Matt Duke and I are joining forces again for an unforgettable reunion in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Tickets for this intimate and exclusive event are still available, but going fast. Get yours now at www.offtherecordfest.com

First off, I must convey massive and sincere gratitude for making this solo acoustic tour such a joy so far. Any bit of trepidation that I might have had about setting out on the road on my own after a year’s worth of Contenders gigs, was quickly obliterated by your support. Thank you…a million times.

CYBER MONDAY:

I am fully familiar with the excitement (an anxiety) that the holiday shopping season brings. With that in mind, I’m offering a few holiday ‘specials’ this week. Everything in the JN and Contenders online store is 15% off now through December 6th. We just put up a big selection of incredibly cool looking tour posters, N*A*S*H and Contenders shirts are available in lots of sizes and colors AND the ‘Barcelona’ and ‘Over you’ lyric posters are back in stock.

HANDWRITTEN LYRIC SHEETS & PERSONALIZED ACOUSTIC RECORDINGS:

It’s been a lot of fun making the rounds, revisiting my old records and learning about how different songs connect with different people and how they have found their way into peoples lives. That kind of connection is actually one my favorite things about making music. So that got me thinking about this gift idea that will be available beginning today through Tuesday, December 15th. You can give someone you care about a handwritten, signed and personalized lyric sheet to any one of my songs. If you’d like to take it over the top, I will even record a custom acoustic version of the song in my studio, personalized with an audio greeting.

Lyric Sheets & Personalized Recordings

MIDWEST TOUR DATES THIS WEEK:

I have a few more shows left before we a bow on 2015 and call it a year. Next up is one of my favorite rooms in the world – SPACE in Evanston, IL. Graham Colton and I will be sharing the bill for a very special, one night only event.

On Monday, December 14th at 7pm PST / 10pm EST, I will play a live broadcast concert from my home studio. I’ve continued to make upgrades to my studio and network so that we can bring you the show in HD with high resolution audio. The show ‘pay what you want’, so please come one, come all and make an evening of it! These online events have become such a cool way of connecting folks from all over the world in a single musical event. RSVP at www.concertwindow.com/jaynash . If there are any songs that you would like to hear, please tweet at me (@Jay_Nash) or post to my facebook wall (@jaynashmusic). I’ll be recording the show as well!

I returned home just a week ago from Europe after three weeks on the road with The Contenders. As much as I’m enjoying this time home in Vermont, I have my sights set on what’s to come later this fall.

FREE MUSIC:

If you’re new to the mailing list, thank you for signing up! If you’ve been here for a minute, thanks for reading this. As a small token of appreciation, here is some free music – an entire live performance that Josh and I played in his home studio in Nashville:

The Contenders shows with Josh Day have been a joy this year and we will be touring together again in early 2016 along with a new full length album.

SOLO TOUR DATES:

In the meantime, I’m excited to dig back into the neglected chapters of my catalogue and get the chance to debut a few new songs. In November and December, I’ll be hitting the trail armed with an old Gibson guitar, a single microphone and entirely new solo acoustic show that will change from night to night.

Tickets are now available for all of the upcoming shows. I hope that you’ll grab them early and feel encouraged to drag your friends, neighbors, sisters and brothers along. These types of shindigs tend to go even better when the whole gang is there.

I’m going to pull out some new songs that you haven’t heard in a while AND I would love to know what you’re itching to hear as well.
So…Tweet me, (@Jay_Nash) Facebook me (@jaynashmusic) or reply here to send a good old fashioned 1999 style email!

LIVE IN YOUR LIVING ROOM – DIAMONDS AND BLOOD:

I’m kicking things off next Wednesday, October 14th at 10:30pm EST with a live online broadcast from my studio. I’m going to play my 2011 album Diamonds and Blood in it’s entirety via Concert Window. I am kind of obsessed with this platform. The sound and picture quality are fantastic and it provides for a one of kind 21st century interaction with you. It’s kind of the next best thing to me playing a show right in your own living room. Since the performance takes place in my studio, I have also been capturing (and stockpiling) a collection of unique live performances.

A heart full of thanks to you for listening, showing up and spreading the word. See you there…real soon I hope.

After a few days at home with my family, and a couple of stolen moments to look back and reflect on three weeks of non stop running, my heart is full. We ( The Contenders) played one thousand seat theaters, we played packed clubs, we played empty clubs, we played living rooms, bars and and a German television station. We traveled by plane, train, automobile and even managed to sneak in a boat ride. (It was a cold, dank rainy day, but it was still a boat ride)

The world has always had it’s conflict and tragedy and this day in age is no exception. But the world is also full of miracles…and that, perhaps, is the thing that I love most about touring. It forces me to focus on the miraculous. That is not to say, that it is without struggle, but the road is a setting where beautiful and extraordinary happenings can be observed often and at close range.

With every show, our harmony and musical telepathy became more effortless and in sync. We played four shows with our old friends, The Milk Carton Kids, on some of the most beautiful stages in America. We played a show for 500 people in Nashville opening for Americana luminaries, James McMurtry and Patty Griffin. It was heartening to have such a positive response from their audiences.

After our last show with TMCK, @daydrum & I set out early the following morning from Columbus for Detroit, where we grabbed an overnight flight to Amsterdam. We landed early on a Sunday morning and then played the iconic Paradiso in the heart of the city that night. It was a perfectly welcoming reception to Europe for two weary travelers. Our dear friend, @amberrubarth opened the show and the whole thing felt a little bit like a family reunion.

The next day was our only day off on the continent and after that, we played nine shows in nine nights in Germany. It was a bit of an endurance race. Over the course of those nine nights, we experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows that the road can dish out. Still, the whole trip felt joyful and right.

It’s funny, when you break it down, our entire existence as traveling musicians relies on the kindness of strangers, and their willingness to be open to the experience of the emotional exchange taking place between musician and listener. We also rely on an ongoing string of good luck where flat tires, traffic jams and technical failures are few. All I can hope is that by getting up on stage and singing these songs for you, we are keeping our karmic equity well funded.

It’s terrifying, It’s miraculous and I fucking love it.

August 21, 2015 10:35 am

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Last July, during the week of rehearsals leading up to Rock for the River, (the benefit concert that I produce each year around the fourth of July in support of the non-profit, Save the River), Garrison Starr and I spent some time working on finishing a song that I had started the week before. Garrison’s voice is one of my favorite voices in the world and, in a lot of ways, she is the sister that I never had. So, when this song first began to take shape, it was not wholly surprising that I almost immediately began imagining the way it would sound with us performing it together, rather than performing it alone.

Over the course of the week, the song which became, ‘The Easy Way’ emerged as one of my favorite songs in a long time. We performed it at the concert, hastily and possibly nervously in front of 500 people, smack dab in the middle of a rock and roll show, just hours after we completed it and settled upon it’s final arrangement.

As we do almost every year, Garrison and I put a plan together to make more music together and play a few more shows later in the summer.

We regrouped at my place in Vermont, during the last week in August with a plan to spend three days in my studio, writing and possibly recording some new songs. At the end of the first day, it dawned on us, that rather than constructing something in the studio over layers of recorded sound or producing a lush arrangement, the best use of our time might be to make an attempt to capture the sound and chemistry of the two of us, recording and making music in a room together.

Over the course of the next couple days, we wrote another song called ‘Eyes of a Dreamer’, that we were really excited about. Like ‘Easy Way There’, it dealt with the concept of finding hope in the face of disappointment and possibly a shade of the blind relentless loyalty that we and most of our musical friends have to the ongoing mission of trying to create something beautiful.

I think that it was on that second day, that we sat down across from each other, with an old tube mic between us, and played through ‘Easy Way There’, first with out headphones, and then subsequently, we recorded a pass, with headphones on. With our eyes closed and listening through the headphones, we were both able to hear and communicate musically in a way that I am not sure we ever had before.

I played a 1946 Gibson Southern Jumbo and Garrison played a 1964 Gibson Hummingbird. In that moment, it really felt as though those four musical components were created with the destiny to play these songs.

We listened back to that single microphone recording and we were stunned. ‘We have to put this out! We need to record more songs like this!!”

Later, we unearthed ‘Promises’, a song that Eric Clapton had a hit record with back in the 1970s. His version is heavily influenced by JJCale, with a rolling Tulsa influenced country rock flavor. As much as I always loved that version, I also always felt as though the utterly devastating heartbreak of the song’s lyrics were sort of glossed over. We meditated on the song and it’s story. Rather quickly, we settled in on entwined dance between our two guitars that somehow conveyed heartbreak and hope simultaneously.

This little suite of three songs is brief snapshot of musical connection. Garrison and I have been cultivating that connection for the better part of a decade. We both have a real tendency to be outspoken. We laugh a lot together, we’ve shared some tears too. We also are really good at pushing each others buttons and shouting over each other.

But on these three songs, I think we really listened to each other and subsequently captured a transcendent moment of synergy.

We both hope you enjoy listening to this EP as much as we enjoyed making it.

I am very excited to announce a special, one night only event in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, August 19th, my soul sister, Garrison Starr and I will be returning to our old stomping grounds, Room 5 on North La Brea Avenue to share songs, harmony and undoubtably, laughter. We will also be celebrating the release of an EP that we recorded live in my studio last summer.

Tickets are on sale now. Please note that capacity at Room 5 is very limited and this show will sell out. We hope that you get them now, while the gettin’ is good!

8/19/2015 | Los Angeles, CA | Room 5 – TICKETS

SOLO SHOWS IN USA & EUROPE VIA CONCERT WINDOW:

I have been having such a blast with these Concert Window shows. The folks at CW have been amazing at help to create the best possible online performance atmosphere. In short, the platform looks and sounds fantastic. I broadcast and record the entire thing

for posterity in my studio. You get to sit on your own couch and take in the concert in HD video and audio from your own abode.

The live recording will be made available for download within a couple of days.

So, it feels like it’s time for another one. I know that I’ve left out Europe on the last three, so this time, there will be two back to back concerts: www.concertwindow.com/jaynash

Let me know what your song requests are! Tag me on Facebook (@jaynashmusic) or Twitter (@Jay_Nash) with the hashtag #NashConcertWindow and you can help me craft the perfect set list for these two performances.

THE CONTENDERS IN AUGUST – COLORADO & MONTANA:

It’s been almost a year and a half since I’ve played in Colorado. Our two shows in August in Denver and Boulder will mark the The Contender’s debut in Colorful Colorado and we cannot wait. We have also just added a house concert performance in Bozeman, Montana.

Today marks the release of a studio recording of our complete live show from Concert Window back on June 2nd in Nashville. The recording includes several unreleased songs from our forthcoming LP (and a bunch of old ones too). It also includes some really sublime (ha!) moments of between song banter.

Grab it now on bandcamp for less moolah than a large latte. I promise you that it will be every bit as fulfilling and it will last forever. So there’s that. (click the image to link)

Thanks for listening and for taking the time to read this. More than ever, your willingness to participate in this crazy dream of mine, spread the word and share the music with your friends and loved ones is the life blood of the whole operation. It means the world to me.

I hope that the same is true for you, wherever this finds you. For me, fall has become touring season and so now, the road calls. I returned home to Vermont last week from an incredible couple of weeks in the Netherlands and Germany, where I played eleven concerts in eleven days, with a few radio and video tapings thrown into the mix for good measure. It was a great experience through and through and now I am true fighting form for the American Tour campaign which lays ahead.

This week, I am playing four solo acoustic performances in New England. Advance tickets for each of the shows are still available and include an exclusive digital download of three new unreleased tracks, including one track from the upcoming ‘Meet the Contenders’ EP.

(download link will be sent by the venue on or before the day of the show)

You may have caught glimpses already of me mentioning my new band with Josh Day, ‘The Contenders’. I couldn’t be more excited about this project and the music that we are making together. This is the band that I have always wanted to be in.

The first track from our EP, our namesake, ‘The Contender’ can be previewed at CMT Edge right now…here. Suffice, to say, we are chomping at the bit for you to hear the rest of the EP and to share these songs with you in a live setting.

If you’re trying to imagine what to expect from these upcoming shows, just take everything that you have ever liked about a ‘Jay Nash’ show, add a soul stirring harmony and a sticky back beat…throw that in a blender with equal parts of folk, rom n roll revival and heartbreak and you’ll be on the right track. This tour is going to be a heck of a good time.

The EP will be released everywhere digitally on Tuesday, November 18th. Next week, keep an eye out for a special vinyl pre-order in cooperation with Pledge Music. All pre-orders will include an instant digital download of the EP and ‘Live at SPACE’, along with exclusive, behind the scenes content and updates from our US tour.

Since wrapping the tour with Martin Sexton** at the end of March, I have been working away in the studio here in Vermont. I am just now putting the finishing touches on a beautiful full length record for Montreal’s ‘Sweet Talking Liars’.

(Yes…they named themselves after one of my songs. So…how could I not agree to produce their record?)

I’m also deep into the process of recording a bunch of new music of my own. Expect a new release (or releases) this fall. Extensive touring in Europe and America will also be announced in the coming months.

For now, I have just a few shows that I’d like you to know about. Each are quite special in their own way. I hope to see some of you out there.

HOTEL EL GANZO, CABO, MEXICO – SATURDAY, MAY 17TH

If you’re up for a relatively last minute excursion to Cabo San Lucas, join me for a rooftop performance at the stunning El Ganzo Hotel for a concert next Saturday Night (May 17th)

I am thrilled to announce that this year’s lineup for the Rock for the River concert benefiting Save the River will include: Joe Purdy, Garrison Starr, Bright Wright, Sally Jay, Eliza Moore, Amber Rubarth (and me), backed by the powerhouse rhythm section of Matt DelVecchio and Frederik Bokkenheuser.

Check out this video of the Rolling Stone’s song, ‘Shine a Light’ from last year. If the picture does not appear below, click HERE to watch.

Thank YOU, for supporting independent musicians like myself. If you’re inclined to acquire more of it, all of my albums are available on iTunes for download and in my online store if you’re in the market for CD or vinyl. As always, you can listen for free at www.jaynash.com/music.

** What an incredible and unforgettable experience it was for me to spend the month of March opening for one of my musical heroes, Martin Sexton. It was a master class in performance, songwriting and showmanship. Having experienced several of his concerts over the years, I can confidently report that he has relentlessly pushed the boundaries of his own performance throughout his career. It was hugely inspiring to see an artist at the top of his game night after night. If you are unfamiliar with his music, please take a moment to check it out. His live album, ‘Live – Wide Open’ or his first LP, ‘Black Sheep’, are both great places to start.